There are several high efficiency, high volume food patty molding machines available for production of hamburger patties, other ground meat patties, chicken patties, fish patties, imitation steaks, and other food product patties. Three such machines that are commercially available are described in Richards et al U.S. Pat. No. Re. 30,096, Sandberg et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,054,967, and Lamartino et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,003, which are available as the F-26, F-19, and F-12 food patty molding machines, respectively, made and sold by Formax, Inc. of Mokena, Illinois. All of those machines are quite flexible; each can produce virtually any form of food patty desired, depending entirely upon the mold plate and other mold station components mounted in the machine. However, none of those machines is particularly satisfactory for experimental uses that require production of only a few patties having particular characteristics from a given food product or that may require frequent and rapid changeover of the mold plate and other molding station components of the machine. Furthermore, the high volume machines are not adapted for use as production tools for low volume users, such as individual retail outlets or small groups of retail producers, particularly if the patties produced must be varied frequently. Moreover, the high efficiency high volume machines are not well adapted to changes in their production rates, as might be required to match speeds with other equipment such as cheese applicators and the like.